23 Charged With Cheating Welfare System

October 23, 1985|By Charles Mount.

Five current or former government employees were among 23 people indicted Tuesday on charges of cheating the welfare system of more than $1 million.

The government workers include two employed by the Chicago Board of Education, a nurse from Cook County Hospital, a nursing attendant at the county`s Oak Forest Hospital and a U.S. Postal Service clerk, Cook County State`s Atty. Richard Daley said at a press conference.

Of the others, a Homewood woman was charged with collecting $2,685 from the Rich Township general assistance fund while maintaining a stock trading account with Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. containing as much as $15,000.

All 23 were accused of collecting welfare illegally while they or their husbands held jobs that provided enough income to make them ineligible for welfare.

One South Side aid recipient collected $93,606 over a 12-year period while her husband worked as a truck driver, according to the indictment, which was returned by a Cook County grand jury.

Another aid recipient collected $83,827 during a six-year period while collecting $75,000 in Social Security benefits for three children in her custody, the indictment said.

The 23 were charged with theft and public assistance fraud. Upon conviction, the theft charge carries a possible penalty of 2 to 5 years in prison, and the fraud charge carries a possible penalty of 4 to 15 years in prison.

James Zagel, Illinois director of law enforcement, who attended the press conference, said the fraud was uncovered when the Social Security numbers of welfare recipients were compared by computer with those of gainfully employed individuals.

He said the Illinois Department of Public Aid has the Social Security numbers of aid recipients, and the state Department of Labor has the Social Security numbers of most of those holding jobs in the state.